‘The ACL is an unrepresentative, anti-gay group which it is completely inappropriate for the leader of our nation to endorse in this way,’ said national convener of Australian Marriage Equality Alex Greenwich.

‘Between January and June this year the ACL made over 120 statements condemning equality for gay Australians and said virtually nothing about poverty or homelessness, with some of its statements linking gay equality with the stolen generation, Nazis and pedophiles.’

Gillard is the only leader in the English-speaking Western world to oppose gay marriage. As an atheist who lives with her partner unmarried, her steadfast refusal to allow same-sex couples to marry is mysterious. But her links to the ACL could provide the answer.

Greenwich points out that Gillard has never spoken at an LGBT community event, including the Rainbow Labor group in the party she leads.

‘Gay and lesbian Australians and our families want a prime minister who shows us equal respect and does not legitimize hate, and at the moment Julia Gillard is not that prime minister,’ Greenwich said.